WestJet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

WestJet - Essay Example Westjet airlines is a Canadian carrier that provides scheduled and charter services to over 87 destinations in Canada, the Caribbean, United States, Mexico and central America. It was established in 1996 and by 2012; it was ranked the ninth largest airline in North America. It has two hubs, Calgary International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. It also has two focus cities, Edmonton International Airport and Vancouver International Airport. The company’s slogan is â€Å"Owners Care†. The company’s headquarter is in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and headed by Gregg Saretsky who is the CEO/ President. Westjet also operates on vacations to provide hotel, car, air, and excursion packagings. According to a research conducted by TNS Canada, Westjet is the most preferred airline in Canada (Grescoe, 2004). The competition over the Canadian traveler is fierce and Westjet is not spared from the whole situation. Its main competitors include Air Canada and Porte r Airlines most specifically Air Canada. Westgate has adopted a counteractive competition strategy to keep up with the spirit of competition. When Air Canada revealed that, it would be adding a premium economy class to cater for their customers of the business class, which was to include wider seats and a bigger legroom at a slightly higher economy price. Westjet responded by purchasing a fleet of Bombardier Q400s with seat configurations of 737-800. This included roomier premium seats and high-density economy class. Westjet signed a letter of intent for buying 20 Q400’s with another 25 on the way.... Its mission is to enrich the lives of everyone through provision of safe, friendly, and affordable air travel. In fact, Westjet received the â€Å"Business Ethics† Award from the Better Business Bureau in Alberta in 2004. It was also ranked fourth in Reputation Institute’s Corporate Reputation study among the 50 largest companies in Canada and Most admired corporate culture as selected by Waterstone Human Capital in 2011. Westjet’s values include commitment to safety, positive and passionate in everything, appreciative of people and guests, fun, friendly and caring, aligning the interests of West Jetters with the interests of the company and honest, open and keeping to their commitments (Grescoe, 2004). However, there was a major ethical issue in May 2006 between Westjet and Air Canada where Westjet admitted to accessing confidential information from an Air Canada’s website. Air Canada claimed that Westjet unfairly adjusted its scheduling and pricing infor mation to gain a springboard in starting new routes and terminating others. In a joint press release by Westjet and air Canada, Westjet admitted full responsibility stating that the conduct was both unethical and unacceptable. Westjet management admitted that they engaged in an extensive practice of covertly accessing a password-protected proprietary employee Web site maintained by Air Canada to download detailed and commercially sensitive information without authorization or consent from Air Canada (Grescoe, 2004). The most disquieting fact about this confrontation was that the whole affair of corporate spying occurred under the watchful eyes and direction of top management officials at WestJet and it did not stop until Air Canada